Now Wash Your Hands!

If you have not got running water from a tap, how do you wash your hands? In the kitchen, after using the toilet, in a medical setting, the problem remains largely unanswered.

Quite a long time ago a Jim Watt of the Salvation Army in Zimbabwe thought out a way to do it, and it is now known as a Tippy Tap. It is basically a tipping jug that is operated by the foot, so dirty hands do not contaminate it.

When we can, we promote these in the community but things here are seldom straightforward. Children play and empty the water out and others do not get round to refilling it; goats and cows eat the soap or it gets 'borrowed'. Or it just does not last the rigours of African life. Here is a picture of a community workshop showing two different container options. But the good thing is that a few people like them, stick with them and may eventually persuade their neighbours of the health benefits.

Recently I was asked to install two tippy taps in a new health centre here, one in the clinical officer's consulting room and the other in the nurses treatment room. They are expecting running water 'soon' but need to maintain hygiene standards now. The title picture is the nurse's tippy tap made from a commercial plastic watering can, a plastic cup, a soda bottle cap, 2 nails, some string and a wooden stick.